EasyJet cancels UK flights

Low-fare airline easyJet is to cancel more flights in the UK next week after bungling a new roster system, it was revealed today.

The problem caused the no-frills carrier to scrap 19 flights last Sunday, including 14 at Luton airport in Bedfordshire.

Today easyJet said this weekend’s services were expected to operate normally but some flights next week would be cancelled.

"We shall be announcing shortly what flights will not be operating next week. They will be ones on which very few people will be travelling," said an easyJet spokesman today.

He went on: "This is not about staff shortages. We have introduced a new rostering system which is causing us all manner of problems. It’s a rubbish system and we are changing it.

"Crews have not been where they should be and we have had to take some flights out of the system. We have also suffered from delays caused by air traffic control and from problems at Luton airport."

In a letter to pilots which appeared in The Times today, easyJet’s operations director Vilhelm Hahn-Petersen, said the airline was "stretched to the limit".

He wrote: "It is very clear that the current situation cannot continue.

"Right now it feels soul destroying and the bottom line is we can now conclude that the 60% growth coupled with four new crew bases and lots of new routes has stretched us significantly. The combination of volume and complexity in the summer schedule has stretched us to the limit. I recognise that we need to scale back slightly to recreate stability."

Meanwhile, an easyJet pilot told The Times: "I have repeatedly told managers the situation has become dangerous but their only concern is profits.

"They have pushed staff to the limits and now we are seeing the consequences. It would be terrible if it took a crash to force them to rein back on this breakneck expansion."

Commenting on Mr Hahn-Petersen’s message, an easyJet spokesman said today: "We have gone out to staff said: ‘We accept that this has not been a good summer’."